Repurposing a Headboard into a Bench Part 2

Repurposing a Headboard into a Bench Part 2, the final part. It’s done and I am so so so excited to share it with you. And am so very happy with the way it turned out and how well it is working out for us. Trying to fit all 6 of us around the dining room table in a smallish dining room has had it’s challenges. To start the table only came with 4 chairs. Through thrift stores and curbside specials we added 2 more seats as our family grew, but they were the odd ball chairs. Both of my littlest kiddos are independent stinkers and won’t eat from a booster or high chair. We felt like a bench would be safer for them to stand on to eat. I’ve had lots of ideas on how to finish the bench but when I factored messy little kids into it I went kind of basic so it was easier to clean up. A fabric covered seat was out of the question! So we went with a dark stained wood seat.

You can read Repurosing a Headboard into a Bench Part 1. The first post included how I prepared the headboard and built the framework for the seat part of the bench. Did you see me using the Miter saw??? Here’s the bench where we left off from part 1.

From the above picture we painted the frame with White interior house paint.

Now for the seat construction, staining and attaching. We took our measurements to the hardware store. (Note: I’m not sharing our exact numbers in this post because headboard vary in sizes and your intended use for a bench could be different.) We need a piece slightly less that the width our our opening between table legs, and deep enough to go from the back of the frame to hang over the frame a few inches on on the front. We found a board larger than we needed, cut it to size on the table saw. We need to address the corners of the seat.

The back corners of the bench frame look like this:

So we needed to notch out those back corners of the seat. We used a jigsaw for that.

For the front corners we don’t want any sharp edges so we traced around a can to give follow with the jigsaw.

To smooth all of the edges we used a router around just the sides and front. You want to leave the back as is so it can sit flush to the headboard.

Stain and seal however you like. We opted for a really dark stain. I had to work fast and in small areas with this. I stained the top, the sides and around the bottom side just on the edges.

We attached the seat to the bench frame right on top of the dining room table. First we protected the table with a drop cloth then sat the bench seat on top upside down with the back towards the edge of the table.

Turn the bench frame upside down as well and sit on top. This will give you access to the bottom of the bench seat and frame to securely attach.

Using L shaped brackets attach with screws in several places around the frame.

Turn it right-side up and you are ready to use your new bench!

This is a good time to celebrate your hard work with ice cream and break in the new bench.

Now that it’s done can you tell it started from a headboard on the curb? Have you found anything good on the curb?

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